Jude 17-25 - "God's Keeping Power in a Divisive Age"
James Long, Jr.
Steadfast Living in an Unsteady World / Jude 17–25
Explore the profound truths in Jude 17-25 as we delve into the apostolic predictions, the call to fortify our faith, the urgency of reaching the lost, and the unwavering assurance of God's protective power. Join us in understanding how to stand firm in 'God's Keeping Power in a Divisive Age.'
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REMEMBER: Remembering Apostolic Predictions (Jude 17-19)
Paul’s predicts that false teachers will invade the church (Acts 20:29-30 and
1 Timothy 4:1-3)
REAFFIRM: Building Up in Faith (v. 20-21)
RESCUE: Responding to the Lost (v. 22-23)
REST ASSURED: The Assurance of God's Keeping Power (v. 24-25)
ABOUT JAMES AND LESSONS FOR LIFE
Are you longing to find answers to the deeper issues of life? Join Dr. James Long, Jr., a pastor, counselor, and university professor with over 30 years of experience. Hear James as he tackles some of life’s biggest questions and helps us find God’s solutions to life’s struggles. Learn the power of living by God’s grace and for His glory. Experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom found in Jesus Christ alone. If you are in search of freedom, you will love being part of this conversation. Subscribe, and enjoy the show!
Links
Website – https://jameslongjr.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/drjameslongjr
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/drjameslongjr/
Apple Podcast – https://jameslongjr.org/applepodcast
Google Podcast – https://jameslongjr.org/googlepodcast
Jude 17-25 - "God's Keeping Power in a Divisive Age"
James Long, Jr.
Steadfast Living in an Unsteady World / Jude 17–25
Explore the profound truths in Jude 17-25 as we delve into the apostolic predictions, the call to fortify our faith, the urgency of reaching the lost, and the unwavering assurance of God's protective power. Join us in understanding how to stand firm in 'God's Keeping Power in a Divisive Age.'
-------
REMEMBER: Remembering Apostolic Predictions (Jude 17-19)
Paul’s predicts that false teachers will invade the church (Acts 20:29-30 and
1 Timothy 4:1-3)
REAFFIRM: Building Up in Faith (v. 20-21)
RESCUE: Responding to the Lost (v. 22-23)
REST ASSURED: The Assurance of God's Keeping Power (v. 24-25)
ABOUT JAMES AND LESSONS FOR LIFE
Are you longing to find answers to the deeper issues of life? Join Dr. James Long, Jr., a pastor, counselor, and university professor with over 30 years of experience. Hear James as he tackles some of life’s biggest questions and helps us find God’s solutions to life’s struggles. Learn the power of living by God’s grace and for His glory. Experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom found in Jesus Christ alone. If you are in search of freedom, you will love being part of this conversation. Subscribe, and enjoy the show!
Links
Website – https://jameslongjr.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/drjameslongjr
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/drjameslongjr/
Apple Podcast – https://jameslongjr.org/applepodcast
Google Podcast – https://jameslongjr.org/googlepodcast
And for the rest of you, keep your Bibles open there at the book of Jude. I cannot believe, I don't even know how many months it's been. We started this journey a lot of months ago in first Peter, went through first Peter, second Peter, and now through the book of Jude in the series entitled steadfast living in an unsteady world. And hopefully you've been able to see that as Peter wrote, uh, those two books, and as Jude wrote this book, uh, they were speaking 2, 000 years ago, but by God's sovereign grace, they speak to us today. And the cultures that we are going through, the difficulties that we're going through today. Uh, it talks often in those books about last... days. And you wonder about last days because it's been 2000 years. It's like, how long is this last days? And the reality is last days goes from the resurrection of Jesus Christ to the return of Jesus Christ. And it seems like 2000 years, but that's nothing in time and eternity. So we're, we're living in these last. days. And as you see, there are ebbs and flows, as you know, human history. I mean, I, I like studying history. And as you see human history, there are ebbs and flows that happen where greater levels of evil or greater levels of satanic activity is more and more apparent. And we may be seeing more of that in our culture today. Um, I don't know if this is the last of the last days, but it clearly is a divisive day that we're living in. And the world that we live in is pretty fragmented. The world that we're living in is pretty polarized. And there is a voice of skepticism and division that is in the world. All you need to do is just turn on a radio station or turn on the TV and you will see it. And the division seems to be growing louder and louder each day. Yet, the Bible offers us timeless truths. These timeless truths, uh, urge us... to remember the truth, the real truth, the foundational truth, the faith. And as we stand at the crossroads between history and prophecy today, I want you to know that you can navigate through these times, through these challenging times, applying the truths of 1 Peter, applying the truths of 2 Peter, and also applying these truths. that from the book of Jude. Now, this small little book, it's brief, 25 verses is powerful because it speaks to the chaos and the confusion that is around us and the certainty that we can have within us. And I love this word that he uses in the book, beloved. I want you to think about this because the world hates you, hates Christ, and it hates anything that stands, anyone that stands for Christ. But over and over again, scripture is beckoning you to remind yourself of the fact. that you are beloved. And as you go through this, I want you to be not merely a hearer of God's word. I want you to be a doer of God's word. And that is really what, um, Jude is going to do. Um, as Pastor Doug and Pastor Tim got an opportunity to kind of lay a foundation of the false teaching and the struggles and contending for the faith and the false teachers that are out there. there. Now I get the opportunity to teach to you about practical theology. How do you take that theology and make it practical? How do you live in this divisive time? I want you to know that you can rest assured. As you heard Steve read those last two verses, it talks about an assurance that you and I can have as we live in desperately. Difficult and challenging times see the more that you know the faith and the more that you're grounded in the faith and the more that the faith lives in you and comes out of you. That is hope for you, but it's also hope for those that are living in dark and dreadful times today. They'd lack hope. They lack peace. They lack joy. They lack contentment. The very things that are here that are promised for you as believers are the very things that you have that the world desperately needs. And... And what Jude is concerned about is this, that people are going to get corrupted by false teachers that may slip into the church, take you off track, and cause you to lose the hope that the world desperately needs. And if you lose the hope, then you won't be able to speak that hope to the world. Now let's just kind of go back and do a quick Eagle's Eye review, just so we kind of get the context. If you remember verses 1 through 4, Pastor Doug preached that section. Primarily, Jude tells you who he is. He sees himself as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't see himself as the half brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. He could have elevated himself that way. He did not. He says, I am a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he did say, I'm a brother of James. James, who wrote the book of James. And he talked about, you need to contend earnestly for the faith. And if you remember here, he talked about three things, and we'll come back to them in a moment. Uh, you're called, you're beloved, and you're kept. These are really essential when you start to think about the ending of this book. God called you out of darkness into his relation, into a relationship with him. He loves you with an everlasting love, the very love that he has for his son, he has poured out to his Christians, and he has. kept you. He secures you. You may feel insecure internally, but your salvation is absolutely and totally secure. So he tells us just that. And then Pastor Tim got an opportunity to talk to us about some of these false teachers at the end of Pastor Doug's sermon and then into Pastor Tim's sermon, that these false teachers that have crept into the church. And he gave some historical reminders of things that have happened in the past, that this is not just happening in Jude's time. This is happening. This happened to out scripture, and it's happening even today. And he gives these false teachers that are examples and gives the example of Cain and Balaam and, and Korah. And as he was talking about these rebellions that had happened before, he talks about the judgment that had come upon them. And so what he's doing is he's wanting you to remember that what you're going through is not unlike everything else that other people do. It's kind of like in 1 it says, no temptation has overtaken you. That is not common to man. There's a commonality to the struggles. You're not alone. One of the things that Satan wants you to believe is that you are completely and totally alone. You are not. You are alone. part of a group that is struggling against the same battles, the same evil demons, and the same struggle that you have with your flesh. The Jew tends to write in these triads. He, he likes putting things in threes. As we already said, he calls you, that you, your identity in Christ, that you're called, you're beloved, and you're kept. He also said in verse two, a triad as well, he said, mercy, peace, and love. He talked about the, uh, ungodly behavior of these Um, false teachers. He said they were defiling the flesh. They're rejecting authority and they blaspheme in the glorious ones. He likes, um, speaking in threes. He talked about Cain and he talked about Balaam and he talked about Korah. He, he talked about the ungodly characteristics. He talked about grumblers, malcontents, and sinful desires. He has this tendency to talk in threes. He will do the same thing now as we go into the spiritual growth. As you, how do you live? out this life. He talks in threes as well. He talks about building up your faith. He talks about praying. He talks about keeping. I'll get into that in a moment. So four steps in the sermon this morning, four steps, four phrases that you can remember. So the first one is to remember. Uh, that takes up verses 17 through 19. He wants you to remember the apostolic predictions. He wants you to remember what the apostles said. That's so important. We need to remember. Uh, the second is going to be a second phase of our sermon this morning is going to reaffirm. Reaffirm. Reaffirm. You need to build up in your faith. And it's interesting that we're gonna talk about the work that you need to do to build up your faith. Um, so remember, reaffirm. The third word that we're gonna talk about today is to rescue. You are called to rescue people that are in desperate need. And that rescue, you need to respond to those that are lost and maybe even those that are believers but are struggling. We are called to seek to rescue. And the last. Word that I want you to think about. Remember, reaffirm, rescue, and then rest assured. I want you to feel confident, rest assured that God can keep you through all the struggles. Remember, reaffirm, rescue, and rest assured. Let me pray as we begin our message today. So Lord, I pray that you would remind us to remember. Father, in the Old Testament, you would tell them to put memorial stones down to remember what you've done. When they crossed the Red Sea, Lord, you told them to remember, and constantly you tell us to store your word in our hearts so that we can remember. So Father, we tend to forget the things we should remember, and we tend to remember the things we should forget. Help us to remember. Help us to reaffirm, Lord. By the power of your spirit, Father, not only has he regenerated us that are in Christ and called us and adopted us and done all those wonderful things, but he has given us the power to become more and more like your son. So Father, help us to reaffirm the truths of the gospel and help us to grow, Lord, as we take step by step to grow in your faith. And Father, I thank you for the fact that you give us the opportunity to be ministers of reconciliation, rescuers out there to those that are desperate in need of Christ. And then Father, help us to be rest assured, um, that we stand in your son, in his grace. For his glory in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, so let's start We are living in a time where we are in a desperate need for discernment and discernment is so important The sermon is interesting because the word discern in the in the Greek actually means to distinguish to separate out to know Truth. And those are desperate needs for us as believers. We are living in a time where truth is called wrong and wrong is called truth. So we need to know the truth, the ultimate truth of salvation. If we're ever going to grow forward, a discerning mind demonstrates wisdom and insight that goes beyond what you see and what you hear. You need to be spiritually discerning in life. You need to be able to hear with your ear and see with your eyes, and to interpret and say, this is right and this is wrong. A discerning person knows God's Word. And if you remember, when Solomon was asked for whatever you want, he says, I want wisdom. In essence, I want discernment. I want to know how to live in this life, and I want to know how to lead your people well. And Solomon got that wisdom and discernment until, if you remember, he had a number of people people, wives and concubine that came into his life that led him astray for a period of time. And when we got a chance to preach through Ezekiel, um, and Ecclesiastes, we heard his life stories of the struggles that he goes through and he went through. And you and I do the same thing. If we allow the wrong person into our lives, wrong people into our lives, they can take us off course. You've heard me say this before, whoever has you. Ear affects your mind. Whoever affects your mind can influence your heart and whoever influences your heart can influence your life. So you need to be very careful what you take into your ears and into your mind and into your heart because that will create the direction for your life. Paul was talking about this concern for people, his bride being led astray in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, verses 1 4. He said this, he's, he's like a father that brought his daughter down the aisle to this guy. And the bride that he's bringing down is the church and the guy that he's bringing them to is the Lord Jesus Christ. But now he says this in 2nd Corinthians 11 verses 1 4, I wish you would bear with me a little foolishness. Do bear with me for I feel a divine jealousy for you for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning your thoughts are being led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For someone comes in and proclaims another Jesus than the one that we proclaim, or if you received a different spirit from the one that you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. And what Paul was seeing is that his church, his bride, the bride that was being distracted and led astray by this false teacher coming in and they were afraid that they were going to be dragged away from Christ. And I wonder, a question for you and a question I have to think about is this, how, are we far too tolerant of error in our world? I think the more and more as, as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we know that they're tolerant of error outside, but the question is, are we finding ourselves more and more tolerant of error? And we make excuses for error, and we're afraid to stand up against error, and Jude is saying, you need to be able to contend earnestly for the faith. And some of us, sad to say, are finding ourselves struggling with a lack of discernment, and when we struggle with a lack of discernment, we struggle. So let's go to the first word, remember, verses 17 through 19. 17 through 19, he tells us that you need to remember, but you You must remember, beloved, the predictions of the Apostle or Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, in the last times there will be scoffers following their own godly, ungodly passions. I find it interesting that he begins this section with, but you. Now most of us in Christianity tend to think it's not about me, it's about God. Actually, right? You know, it's like, no God, you need to change me. You need to do all of these things in me. And that is true. Your salvation was a but God. You know, back in Ephesians chapter 2, we preach through this as well, Ephesians chapter 2, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked. Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among all of you were once lived in the passions of your flesh, carrying out the desires of your body and mind and whereby children, Nate, I'm sorry, by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind. And here's two beautiful words. God, in light of the darkness and the sin and the depravity and the, and the guilt and the condemnation that we felt outside of Christ, God comes in and invades our lives, invades the world through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But God Being rich in mercy, because of his great love for which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sin, made us alive together in Christ, for by grace you've been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ, so that at the coming age he might show his immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that, not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as the result of works, so no one will boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in him. He, he says this salvation, this great salvation that you need to know, this gospel message that you desperately need to know, you desperately need to know the gospel, that there is a creator God who's holy and you have. You have fallen away from that Creator, God. Our foreparents, Adam and Eve, fell away from that Creator, God. You, as part of their lineage, have fallen away from that Creator, God. That Holy God. You are unholy against a Holy God. All of us will stand before God, and God, in His sovereignty, and His grace, Before you had ever sinned, before this world was ever created, He had planned, the Triune God had planned to send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to live a righteous life and a perfect life, and to die a substitutionary death, so that if you trust in Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can get that status of holiness, and you can, greater than that, become part of His family again, and of eternity with Him. That is the Gospel that you need to hold on to. And he's saying you need to remember the apostolic teaching of the gospel, but I think he's going even further than just the apostolic teaching. He is saying that you need to remember that false teachers are going to come in. Paul predicted this, if you remember in Acts chapter 20, just as he's getting ready to leave, he's predicting that these false teachers come in. In verse 29 and 30 of Acts 20, he says this, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Paul also said in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 3, Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith. Devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from food that got created to be received with Thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. So what we need to remember is the apostolic teaching of the gospel. We also need to remember the apostolic warning that false teachers are going to come into your church. I turn on. Thank you. Stations that are supposedly Christian stations today, Christian pastors today that are preaching godlessness, preaching worldliness, preaching error. And Christian after Christian is hearing this and believing it is to be the truth because they are not discerning what is being said versus what God's Word is saying. And what Jude is arguing, what What Doug and Tim and I are arguing is that we desperately need you to know God's Word, believe God's Word, trust God's Word, and use it as a filter in your life to deal with the errors that are out there because you can get sucked in very easily. He says here that these men are teaching false things and they're following their own passions. If you notice... These, these scoffers are coming in and what they're doing is they're invading the church and they are followed. They're scoffers that follow their own passions. We'll start with the following their own passions. It's all about emotions, all about experience is all about them. It's not about the grounding objective word. It's all about subjectivity and churches today are driven by emotions and experience rather than the exposition of God's word. It's all about what you feel and how you. feel, and that's just baloney because God has exposited in his word, he's given you in his word, what is the truth. Your feelings are easily deceptive. My feelings go up and down in a moment's notice. Your feelings need to be filtered through the word of God that is the grounding element of your life. But he calls'em scoffers, which is interesting. Peter used the same word back in second. Peter, I think I actually preached this one on the fact that they were scoffers Scoffers who scoff, which is interesting. They are mockers. They mocked the return of Jesus in second Peter. And now they're mocking the law of God here. These mockers, these scoffers, don't want to be accountable to the return of Christ. And they clearly don't want to be accountable to God's word. So what do they do? They mock you for believing in the return of Christ or in the word of God. And what these scoffers do is they sow seeds of discord. They sow seeds of doubt. They sow seeds of distrust. They sow seeds of discontentment. And what we find within Christian churches at times is even within Christian families is that this, this doubt, I don't trust you, I doubt you, I doubt you, I doubt the word, this discord, this brokenness that is happening, what God wants to bring together and reconciling, Satan wants to tear apart, and that's what scoffers do, scoffers sow those seeds so that you can tell that if you were going down a greater path of distrust and discord and discontentment in your life, I would I urge you to go back to the gospel words so that you can have some level of confidence in your life. But that's what these false teachers did. They were ungodly, verse 4. They were morally perverted. In verse 4, it tells us they denied Christ. In verse 8, it tells us that they relied on dreams. They defiled the flesh. They rejected authority. They blasphemed. In verse 10, it tells us that they were unreasoning. Verse 16, it tells us that they were grumblers, and malcontents, and following their sinful desires, loudmouth boasters. They were also showing favoritism, and now in verse 18, we see that they're mockers. These are the characteristics of those that are leading people astray. But of course, Jude doesn't end, he has to give you three more things about them. They are divisive, they're worldly. And they're devoid of the spirit. They cause division and the, the angst in the discord that happens when you find yourself fighting against another believer, I would urge you to recognize that more often than not, that's probably coming from the flesh and not coming from God. God wants us to challenge each other. God wants us to. Um, challenge each other so that we can grow and disciple one another. Absolutely. But when there's discord and disharmony and dissatisfaction in life, more often than not, there is something that is fleshly that is happening within. That's the divisions that these false teachers are doing. But they're worldly people. I've often said to you that there are people that are more looking like the world than the word. If that person's life is looking more like the world, You know, they can go on Oprah and Oprah loves them. If they can go on these reality shows and they love them, you can tell that this pastor is offline because they should not be New York Times bestsellers where everybody in the world loves their books if they are preaching the gospel because the gospel is divisive. The cross is offensive. And so when we are listening to leaders that create division, And are more looking like the world than the word. We know we're off track. But there's a third thing. They're devoid of the spirit. They are physically alive, but they're spiritually dead. There's nothing there. Kind of like the Ephesians passage, verses 1 through 3. They're there. And sad to say, they're under the wrath of God. They may be thinking they're believers, but they're not. And those that are believers are being led astray by these leaders. So he says, I need you to remember, I need you to remember the gospel. I need you to remember the apostolic warning that false teachers will creep in. But the second word he went to you to do is to reaffirm versus 20 through 21. He says, I want you to reaffirm. I want you to build up your faith and. He, he starts with this but you, now he, he started with the but you in the beginning of verse 17, but you, and now he's going back to but you. Salvation, I believe, is absolutely monergistic. It means that God solely He chose you. He elected you from all of eternity if you were in Christ. He chose you. He was the one that started your salvation. He regenerated you. He opened your eyes. He caused you to be born again. All of that is because of Him. My salvation, your salvation, rests on God alone. But there's the next part. Yes, you've been called, elected, regenerated, justified, adopted. All of that is what we'll call monergistic. One energy, one force, God alone. But there's a synergistic portion to your life, and that's after your salvation, where you are working in conjunction with God. The Holy Spirit comes into your life so that you can grow in the faith. That same Holy Spirit that caused you to be born again is the same Holy Spirit that is working in your life so that you look more and more like Christ. You're given a position of holiness over here, but practically I'm unholy. And what God is doing is that he wants to work in your life so that you look more and more like Christ. And that is that position, that practical thing that you need to do. But you, and if you're going to grow in your faith, it's not just sitting down waiting for God to zap this verse into your mind so that you can understand this verse, so that you can apply this verse. You need to study to show yourself approved. A workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You need to get to work. Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke, work upon me, upon you, and learn from me. You need to get to work, and that's what... Um, Jude is arguing here. You need to reform your faith, you need to build up your faith. And he uses a triad again. He tells you that you need to build, you need to pray, and you need to wait. Those three things. Build. He says, but you, beloved, building yourself up in your most holy faith. So he starts with the first one. You need to be building. You need to not be sitting back on your seat and doing nothing. You need to be active. Christianity is active. It's not passive. God has done a work in you, now he wants to do a work through you, and you are obligated to get to work and do that. That means you need to read the word. You need to, um, it's great to hear about a bible study that is starting. We have various bible studies that are here in this church. Be involved in the in those Bible studies. It was so cool to be able to walk into the marriage group this morning. We had a room full there and then walk back, uh, the other study and a room full over there. I don't know, 50 or more people in those two rooms. Praise the Lord. We didn't even have more. And so come and hear God's word, learn God's word, study God's word. It's so important. And you need to be growing doctrinally. The world tells you, and maybe even some Christians tell you that doctrine is bad. I think that's a lie. I think doctrine is, is life. I think that being able to know the truth will help you to live the truth. You need to know what you believe so that you know why you believe it. You need to know both of those things. And I know in the apologetics course, that's probably what they're doing. Teaching you truths and teaching you what. they are and teaching you why you should believe that. And in the marriage group, we're doing the same thing. We're trying to teach you the truths of God's word and teach you how to apply that into God's word. And that's Lord willing what we do every Sunday when we get into this pulpit. You need to grow doctrinally strong. I love systematic theologies where you are going to learn about doctrines. One of the most precious doctrines to me is the doctrine of justification. You know, I could struggle at times with feeling condemned and, you know, reminding myself day after day of Romans 8, 1, There is therefore now no condemnation, that God looks at me in light of the perfect and righteous life of Christ. I love the doctrine of adoption, that God, I was separated from him and he brought me into his family. I am his own. I love that doctrine. I love that doctrine. I love the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. You'll see that in a moment. Election, that you are going to be firm, that God called you and he's going to hold you. These are all precious doctrines that you need to know, not just in your mind, you need to know them in your heart so that you can have freedom in life. But the second thing he tells us is not just building yourself up doctrinally, you need to be praying. He says, but you, beloved, building yourselves up in the most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. And I don't believe this is charismatic, I don't think he's talking about speaking in tongues or anything here. I think what he's saying here is this, I think what he's saying is that you need to be persevering in prayer. And prayer is probably one of the most underutilized tools in the Christian arsenal. We just do not pray. And the sad reality is that prayer has just been devoid in so many Christian lives and Christian churches. I know that when these small groups get together, they pray for one another. I, I, I appreciate it to see my wife back there. I appreciate that you are, you've prayed for my family. Um, And you've prayed for those that are in this congregation. I, it is desperate, and God does amazing things through prayer. He, He can bring about healing and restoration. Sometimes He chooses not to, and that's part of prayer as well. He, if He chooses not to, He'll give you the strength to endure that trouble or trial. But prayer is, is so very important. We need to persevere in prayer. So important in our lives, but then he says a third thing. It's not just growing doctrinally It's not first preserving in prayer. We need to wait Some of us hate to wait waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads us to eternal life So if you want to reaffirm your faith, you need to be waiting and waiting means to wait with an eager anticipation an expectation. And what are we expecting? We're expecting Christ's return. As this world is chaotic and confusing, you could look and say, God, I know you're coming back and, and let me plant seeds until you come back. And let me see if I can grab another person to take with us to eternity until you come back. And you're waiting with the hope of what's going to happen that the craziness. That is happening around here. You know, that's not lasting because Jesus says, I will make all things new. And so I can have a confidence that this world as crazy as chaotic is, as it is, that is not what my eternity is. And that's not what your eternity is in Christ. So you wait, but you wait with an eager expectation and you get to work, you get to work growing and building and praying and waiting, building and. working and praying over and over again. I love this. Um, I skipped over the word beloved. I said earlier that the world hates you. And I called this sermon title God's keeping power in a divisive age. The world is going to hate you. In fact, the world's going to think that you're unloving, that you're bigoted, you're prejudicial. You're arrogant, you're stupid. I mean, all of these words that the world will say about you. And sometimes if you and I really long for people to accept you, then when the world rejects you, that's going to be hard. And that's why you need to remind yourself day after day that God loves you. You're beloved. You're precious in his sight. Not precious because of anything in me, because really there's nothing in me. You're precious because you have been purchased by the precious blood of the ultimately loved son. And that love that God had the father has for that ultimately loved son has now been poured out to every one of his believers. You're loved. You're accepted. You are totally secure in Christ. So as you're going through this divisive world, remind yourself to build, to pray, to wait, to reaffirm the faith. He moves us to our next word. So not only do I need to remember the gospel truth, and remember that there are evil people out there, and not only do I have to reaffirm my faith by building up myself doctrinally, and by praying in perseverance, and then waiting with eager anticipation, I need to rescue people. God has you for a mission. The reason why you are here is on a rescue mission. foreign land, or you go to the person next door or the person in your home, we are called to live gospel and to speak gospel in our lives. And there are three people I think he's talking about here. The first one is the doubters, those who doubt. And maybe I'm looking at some that are here in this room, those who, who doubt what's going on. He says here in verse 22, he says, and have mercy on those who doubt. And I think there. A couple of doubters. The first one here, excuse me, the first one here is I think that there are some people that are pretty confused and they struggle. Excuse me. They have a general sense of who God is. They believe that there is a God, but then they get confused and they get confused doctrinally and they allow things to come in and they, they wrestle with needing clarity and they find themselves kind of like unstable. James kind of talked about that in James chapter one. He says that, you know, a double minded person is unstable in all that they do. They kind of got a foot in the world and they foot in God and they find themselves feeling unstable in life. I think there are, there are probably some here that are here. that struggle in that way. And for those of us that are stronger in Christ, we need to, as Galatians 6 talked about, we need to be gentle and caring. We need to be kind as we approach them. Know the truth, but do it in a merciful way. In John chapter 1, verse 14, it says that Jesus dwelt with them and he was a man for full of grace and full of truth. And I think that's what Judas getting at here, that there are doubters that are there, but what do you need to do is that show them grace, but tell them the truth, show them grace and tell them the truth. You have been mercied by God. Now show mercy. Rescue them. And how do you rescue them? You rescue them by walking them back to gospel grace. Bring them back to the cross. Bring them back to truth. Teach them the doctrines that God has been teaching you. And pray for them. And wait for God to do a rescue mission in their lives. Because it's God that's going to ultimately do the work in you and then through you. But there's a second group of people that I think he's talking about here. It's not just those who doubt. He says, Have mercy on those who doubt, verse 23, save others by snatching them out of the fire. I think that there are some people that are on the path to doom. They're doubters, yes, but then there's some people that are on the path to doom. They're on the brink, and they're very close to the fire. They're very close to a struggle here. They're very close to being removed. And it's almost like you see something, uh, I think it was in Hawaii, I saw a person that was driving down the road, and they were having the fires, and they were driving down the road, and they saw a fire that had happened in the bush in front of somebody's house, and the wife pulled over, and the guy jumped out of the car, and he went over and got a hose, and he started to Um, take care of the fire to protect this other person's house. It's not even his house. He saw the danger that was there of a house and he saw that that danger, the fire could take over that house. So what do you do? He jumped out of his car to try to deal with that fire and a spiritual level. There are people on a grand path, a broad path to a greater fire. And the question is, That guy got jumped out of the car to rescue a home. How many of us jump out to rescue a person? And that's what I think Jude is getting at. Snatch other people out of the fire! You know, they could fall into hell right now! Grab them! Do whatever you can to keep them from falling away. Now, ultimately, as I said, I believe salvation is completely monergistic. God has to do some, the work in them. I can't do that. Tim, Doug, and I cannot do that by just preaching the word. But through preaching the word and loving them. God can do an amazing thing in their lives, and I don't know what happens because they then make a decision for Christ I don't know how it all works But I do know this my job and our job is to tell them truth and your job is to tell them truth And so there are some people that are doubters. There's some people that are doomed But there's a third group of people that are absolutely defiled He says here that have mercy on those who doubt save others doomed that are Snatching them out of the fire and to others show mercy With fear. Hating even the garments stained with the flesh. I think it's a third group of people, I'm not positive. And I think this person has become so divisive. And they've become so defiled. They have given themselves into a lifestyle that is just wrong and godless. They firmly believe these worldly lies, they firmly believe these things, and they have been dragged away. And you need to be very careful, I think when he's talking about fear here, is that you need to be mindful to reverence God as you go into it, because, I don't want to be too gross, but I think he's talking about stained garments, it's like stained, um, soiled underwear. Nobody wants to pick up somebody else's soiled underwear, because we're afraid that it's going to get on us, okay? You need to be very careful when you are dealing with somebody that is in this defiled place that when you're going, you approach them with care and concern. But you need to be mindful that you don't want that thing rubbing off on you. Because they have been dragged down. I was saying to my Bible students recently that life is almost like walking a tightrope. And the greater likelihood is that... Is the greater likelihood that you're going to pull somebody up onto the tight rope of holiness? Or is the greater likelihood that they're going to pull you down off the tight rope of holiness? And the reality is, is that the greater likelihood is they're going to pull you down off the tight rope of holiness. That doesn't mean that we don't try to pull people up, but you do it by the power of the Holy Spirit by applying his words, by applying the means of grace. Okay, so we need to remember, we need to reaffirm. We need to rescue and then finally we need to be rest, have rest assured, be rest assured, be assured of God's keeping power. I love this passage, what an amazing passage I get to preach. Now to him, it's all to his glory, who is able, he's sufficient, he's sovereign, he's providential, and to keep you. It's interesting that I said earlier that I think it was Pastor Doug's section where God called. You he loved you and he kept you so he starts with the beginning of the book that way And what does he do at the end? He calls you he loves you And he keeps you. God preserves his people. I sit down with people week after week and decades of counseling, and there's so many people that struggle with the assurance of their salvation. They live their lives as though one little sin on their part is going to cause the sovereign grace of God to be gone. And there's some religions out there that basically teach that if you commit a moral Sin, a mortal sin that you are going to all of a sudden lose your salvation and that or that some sin that God was not aware of when Christ died 2000 years ago, which challenges doctrine. God knows all things, right? So God knows every sin that you've ever committed. And when his son 2000 years ago died on the cross, he paid in total. The debt was canceled. As Paul said in Colossians, it has been ripped. It's done. There is no more. I owe you. You can't pay him back. He's paid it all. all for you. Jesus what did not paid it all all to him. I owe sin is left a crimson stain, but Christ has washed it white as snow. He's able to keep you. He's able to preserve you. Don't let the world take you off course. Don't let the world cause doubt and confusion in your lives, that this doctrine, this beautiful doctrine of perseverance, that God regenerated you and, and Paul told us in Philippians, what God has begun this good work and he will keep you. Romans 8, if you struggle, I would encourage you to meditate on Romans 8, especially the end of it. that nothing will ever separate you from God's love. He will preserve you over and over again. Let the truth of God's word keep you because Jesus said, no one will be able to snatch you out of my hand. None. I will lose none of them. Not one God. God preserves his people, but God presents his people. I love this. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless. Before his presence with great joy, he presents like the bride comes down the aisle. Let me show you this. This is my bride. 31 years ago, there goes my bride down the aisle to me. I don't know why she would want to marry me, but she comes down the aisle to me. Greater than that, I don't know why in the world God would want us as a bride. But we walked down the aisle to our King Jesus. I love this that we are blameless. There are themes here. I didn't have enough time to talk about it, but if you go back to Zechariah chapter three, there's a theme of a priest with a soiled garment and that garment has been removed and a clean garment has been there. Back into Genesis, um, at the fall of creation that when we fell, one of the things that God did was our nakedness. God covered us. with the hide of some animal, I would assume. And so there was a death that symbolized the ultimate death. And your unrighteous life has been covered by the perfectly righteous life of Christ. And when he presents you, he presents you clean and beautiful. And today, I am not beautiful and I'm not clean. Practically. Positionally I am, practically I'm not. There is going to be a time when you, if you know Christ, are not only positionally clean, but practically clean. You are beautiful in His sight, radiant in His sight. And the joy, the overwhelming joy that can be there in your life, the overwhelming joy that as the gospel becomes true in your life, don't worry about the divisions, see Christ and let his joy so fill you. And if God can preserve you, and if God can present you, which he does. I should say that in the affirmative. He does preserve you and he does present you in his glory with great joy. Then God deserves our highest praise. To him, the only God, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Be glory. Majesty, dominion, authority, before all times, now, and forevermore. Amen, amen, and amen. And so that's where Jude ends this book. He says, I can't help but... Praise you. And if you read through the New Testament, they get to these ends of doxology out of my favorite book, Romans. Paul gets to the end of Romans 11 and he just burst out in this hymn of doxology. When you start to remind yourself of your guilt, God's grace, it should lead to gratitude in your heart and life. It should lead to praise. It should lead to adoration. So this small book, it's a really brief letter in the New Testament. It was penned by Jude. He talks about the historical events of the Old Testament, gives you examples, he emphasizes the judgment that is coming. He talked about the judgment that was there and he talks about the judgment that's coming and what he's trying to do is to encourage you as believers. He wants to encourage you to remain steadfast in the faith, uphold the truths of the faith, rest assured, God wants to preserve you, God wants to protect you, and you deserve, he deserves all the praise. And when you think about this series. I just want to close with some things that I learned from the series. I hope you did. I learned that the Christian life is a journey. It's characterized by trials and opposition. But it's within these trials that you have faith that can be refined, and that faith will show itself to be genuine. I learned that false teaching and deceitful teachers are out there, and they're a recurring challenge. They were a challenge for Jude's people, and an issue for Peter's people. They're an issue for ours as well. I reminded myself and I learned that our identity is that this is not our home. We're sojourners. We're exiles in this world. That's why it doesn't feel like home to us. It shouldn't feel like home to us. I was reminded through these series that the second coming of Jesus is both a hope and a level of accountability that there's hope for us as believers, but we will stand and they will stand before. I learned some principles as well from our study, perhaps you did, that holiness and godliness should be the mark of a believer's life. You should look different. We should look different. I learned that genuine love and hospitality and service are tangible ways that you express your faith. I learned as well that in facing sufferings and persecution, it's more vital than ever to hold fast to the truth, contend for the truth, and remain anchored in God's word. So important. I learned as leaders of the church, vocational leaders or non vocational leaders, the elders that come up and read, the pastors that preach to you, we're going to bear responsibility for your care. We need to be humble. We need to be integrate. And you need to, as well, submit to our leadership. I'll end with this. I love these precious promises I've learned from this series. One precious promise is God's sovereign care for you. He ensures you that trials have a purpose. They refine you. They change you. The promise that the ungodly will face judgment. They seem like they're winning today. They're not going to ultimately win. That's a precious promise. A promise to me as well is that God's power is at work in us, and that power guards us, guards our faith, and assures our salvation. What a precious promise. Two more. In my weakness, in your weakness, in your struggles, in your moments of doubt, you can be reminded that God will keep you. He'll keep you from stumbling. That you don't have to ever worry about falling away ultimately because God is the one that keeps you. And the last promise that I learned from our study is this, the enduring word of God, the truth of the gospel, the hope of Christ's return should be anchors for our lives. I loved this series. I loved hearing my brothers preach it. I loved getting a chance to preach it. I pray that more than just words that we spoke, that they would be truths that you're holding onto because those truths steadiness in an unsteady world. So Lord, we praise you and we thank you. Father, I recognize that as I stand here and preach, there are, there are some people in this room that are doubters. Maybe they're believers and they're doubting, or maybe they're unbelievers and they're struggling with doubt. I don't know what it is, but, but Lord, for those that doubt, I pray that we would be merciful and gracious like your son was full of grace, but help us to be people can speak truth into their lives. Speak to them now by the Holy Spirit and give us opportunities to speak to them as well. Well then, Father, there's a second group of people here that are on the path of doom. They're on a broad path to destruction. Jesus talked about that. The wide is the path that leads to, uh, narrows the path that leads to life, and broad is the path that leads to destruction, and many are on it. Father, I know that there are probably some people in this room that have never trusted in Christ as their Lord and Savior, and they are on a path to eternity outside of you. I pray that they would hear the warning of But I pray that they would also hear the merciful kindness from your word and Lord for those that are absolutely defiled They've just given themselves headlong into it The only one that's ever going to be able to rescue them is your Holy Spirit opening their eyes to see that son your son So open blind eyes today. You took Paul, Saul, ready to imprison and kill Christians, and you turned him radically. You took the brothers of Jesus Christ, James and Jude, who didn't even believe in him, and opened their eyes and turned them to faith, so you could do that with the most radical rebel in this room. Do that in our lives, do that through their lives, and help us to bring glory, honor, majesty, and power to your name. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.